Jerome Houston was arraigned Thursday afternoon before Lansing District Magistrate Laura Millmore on charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, felony firearm and possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor.

Lansing police public information officer Robert Merritt said officers were dispatched to the 800 block of Cleo Street about 2:15 a.m. when a caller reported hearing a woman scream for help. Officers arrived at the scene and talked to a witness who said the scream came from an adjacent block, the 800 block of Caywood Street.

As they walked over to the other block, officers came upon two men sitting unconscious in the front seats of a vehicle parked in a driveway, Merritt said.

"They go to make contact and check their welfare, and just before they make contact they see the passenger (Houston) has a handgun in his lap," he said.

Police removed the handgun without waking either of the men, then woke them up with loud verbal commands. Merritt said both were secured without incident.

Houston was arrested. He did not have a permit for the gun, Merritt said. The driver was released after he was interviewed by police.

Merritt said the men may have been unconscious due to alcohol or drugs as an open container of alcohol was found in the vehicle and Houston was in possession of narcotics.

Officers never located the woman screaming for help, but Merritt said the residence where the two men were found is a "problem house."

"We have had numerous previous incidents at this residence, including weapons complaints, drug complaints, fights," he said.

"The good news out of this is we put a bad guy behind bars and took another gun off the street."

Millmore set Houston's bond at 10 percent of $15,000. He has a pretrial conference scheduled for Aug. 14 at 1:30 p.m. and preliminary examination on Aug. 16 at 8:30 a.m., both before Lansing District Judge Hugh Clarke.